Thinking baseball's soul will survive Dodgers getting all excited

Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez isn't taunting the Cardinals, he's laughing during batting practice for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday.

Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez isn't taunting the Cardinals, he's laughing during batting practice for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

But no, much of the baseball world was up in arms Monday after getting a look at how some of the Dodgers acted all happy after coming through in the clutch. Adrian Gonzalez slammed his forearms together and pointed to his dugout. Yasiel Puig flipped his bat,and pointed to the heavens.

Apparently I missed the part where they then did a Tahitian war dance, flipped the Cardinals the bird and spit on the grave of Stan Musial.

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright said what Adrian Gonzalez did at third was “Mickey Mouse.” Outfielder Carlos Beltran thought Puig was “showing up” the Cardinals.

Some of the media fell in line. Somebody named Andrew Sharp at Grantland called the Dodgers a disgrace and said their battle against the Cardinals was “trash vs. class.” Apparently it is up to the classy Cardinals to save the soul of baseball.

Because, clearly, you would never see the Cardinals expressing exuberance on the field. Oh, wait, Deadspin put together a series of videos of the Cardinals doing exactly that in this series.

Is Puig an excitable boy? Absolutely. Do the Dodgers wish he would tone it down a tad? Sure, but remember he’s 22 years old. He comes from a different culture. He’s highly emotional.

And he was 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts when he hit that shot off the right-field wall Monday that he mistakenly thought was a home run, flipping the bat and pointing to the sky before belatedly running and still blazing to a triple.

“You would think they would be excited that he doesn't run from that standpoint, really, because it helps them or has a chance to help them,” said Manager Don Mattingly.

Mattingly said he had no problem with any of the celebrations the Cardinals have displayed during the series and wondered if there wasn’t a double standard at play.

Does anyone really think Puig was trying to show up the Cardinals? He was crazy excited. That’s how he plays. He’s a trip to watch, a breath of fresh air in a game that often takes itself too seriously.

Nobody popped off, stared down the Cardinals, took a slow trot around the bases after a home run. The Dodgers hadn’t scored a run in 22 consecutive innings, were in a desperate spot and released emotion.

Pretty sure that’s allowed. Pretty sure you could argue baseball could use a little more of it. I mean, if the game survives Monday.